Ice tray



I J. H. MINER 2,168,678

- I ICE TRAY Filed March 28, 1936 James Jf. JVZc'Iz er,

atented Aug. 8, 1939 i uni-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE ICE TRAY.

James H. Miner, Meridian, Miss., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Micln, a corporation of Delaware 8 Application March 28, 1936, Serial No. 71,489

25 Claims. (Cl. 62-1085) culty is experienced in freeing ice from the orditray. Further pressure upbn the member ID will .5 nary ice tray. This is because the ice freezes not force the wedge element Ii between the partionly to the tray but to the grid or subdividing tions 8 to wedge them apart and free the ice from means as well. An object of the present inventhe partitions 8 and 9. tion is to facilitatethe freeing of the ice both It will be noted that because the wedge elefrom the tray and from the grid. ment ii is spaced from the partitions 8 at the ID The present invention provides means by use start of the freeing operation, that the initial of which, the ice is broken loose in successive effect of downward pressure on member Ill will steps so as to reduce the effort required. be to spread the walls of the tray apart. Thus The manner in which this is accomplished, and the tray will be enlarged and the ice freed from other features of the invention will appear from the tray before the final step of breaking the ice the following description. loose from the partitions, occurs. Since the tray In the 'drawing has already been enlarged by the time the wedge Figure 1 is a plan of the tray before freeing the enters between the partitions 8, further pressure ice. upon the member I0 is necessary only to spread Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of Fig. 1. these partitions apart. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view similar to Since the wedge element ll enters at the cen- Fig. 2, but after the ice is freed. 1 ter of the longitudinal partitions, they are urged Fig. 4 is a detail plan view of the pair of meminto a curved shape as shown in Fig. 3. This rebers of the subdividing grid. sults in a'movement of the outer ends of the lat- Flg. '5 is a side view of Fig. 1, the front wall of eral partitions 9 away from each other so as to the tray being brokenaway. I open up the spaces therebetween and free the The ice tray 6' is of ordinary shape, but prefice. erably has sides which incline considerably from While not limited in this regard, it is desirable the vertical. Intermediate the long sides of the that the longitudinal partitions 8 normally tend tray are elevated portions which form, lips I to assume a curved shape so that the face from v which may be utilized in freeing the ice, as will which the partitions 9 project will be of convex be described. I 8 formation. This assists in breaking the ice loose. Removably positioned in the tray is the sub- In placing them in the tray the two partitions 8 dividing means which includes a pair of members are merely pinched together so as to flatten them. which are identical. Each of these includes a Similarly, the member I0 is preferably of curved longitudinal partition 5 of plate shape having shape in'its normal condition, so that the wedge projecting from one side the lateral partitions 9. element II is on the concave side thereof. When disposed in the tray the longitudinal par- With the tray and associated means of this intitions extend the length of the tray through the vention, the individual ice blocks are broken loose center thereof, and lie in close relation to each from the tray and partitions on all sides. It has .other. The lateral partitions 9 project to the side been noted that .the side walls of. the tray are Walls Of e yforced apart and away from the ice. The-en- It will be understood that both the tray and trance of the wedge between the longitudinal parsubdividing means are made of resilient metal titions forces them apart and into a bowed shape so that they may be flexed to free the ice. For so as to open up the ice spaces and free the ice 45 invention relates to ice trays and more particularly to one suitable for use in domestic refrigerators.

It is a matterof common knowledge that difllthis purpose, stainless steel having a high surface polish may be employed, although the invention is not limited in this regard.

To free the contained ice, the ends of a striplike member III are caught under the lips I.

Since this member i8 is longer than the width of the tray, the member assumes a concaved formation toward the, tray. 'At the center of the member 10 is a wedge element Ii which projects toward the space between the longitudinal partitions. If pressure is exerted upon the memberv it toward the tray,-the tendency of the member. iii to flatten will force the opposite side walls of the tray apart so as to break the ice loose from'the from all partitions. Furthermore, movement of the partitions by the wedge, breaks the ice loose from the tray bottom. The shape of the sides of the 'tray is such that the wedge action slightly lifts the cubes.

As a feature of this invention, the lateral partitions 9, while projecting perpendicularly from the longitudinal partition 8 to which they are affixed, are alternately inclined with respect to each other. This arrangement is best shown in Fig. 5, from which it will be noted that the resulting ice spaces alternately open outwardly and inwardly of the tray. This arrangement makes it readily possible to obtain the ice from the outwardly opening ice spaces I 2, without removing the subdividing means from the tray. To obtain all the ice the subdividing means will be removed from the tray'in the usual manner.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with an ice tray having flexible side walls, of a yieldable member engageable with opposite side walls of the tray while assuming a concave downwardly formation above the tray, whereby pressure tending to flatten the member will spread the opposite walls of the tray apart and thereby free the contained ice.

2. The combination with an ice tray having flexible side walls, of a yieldable member of greater length than the width of the tray, said member being engageable with the upper portions of opposite side walls of the tray while assuming a downwardly concave formation above the tray, whereby pressure upon the member toward the tray will spread said side walls apart and thereby free the contained ice.

3. The combination with an ice tray having flexible side walls, of a resilient member normally of bent shape, opposite edges of said member being engageable with said side walls of the tray with its concaved side facing the tray, whereby pressure upon the member toward the tray will spread said side walls apart and thereby free the contained ice.

4. The combination with an ice tray having flexible side walls, of a strip-like member of resilient metal, said member normally assuming a curved shape, the ends of said member being engageable with said side walls of the tray with its concave side facing the tray, whereby pressure upon the member toward the tray will spread said side walls apart and thereby free the contained ice.

5. The combination with an ice tray, of subdividing means comprising a pair of members to lie upright in a tray in close relation to each other, said members having partitions projecting therefrom to subdivide the ice, and a wedge member movable downwardly between said members in a direction toward the bottom of the tray and in said downward movement forcing said members apart and thereby freeing the ice.

6. The combination with an ice tray, of subdividing means comprising a pair of plate members to lie upright in a tray with a face of one in close opposing relation to a face of the other,

said plate members each having partitions pro- Jecting from the other face thereof to subdivide,

the contained ice, and a wedge member movable downwardly between said opposing faces of said members in a direction toward the bottom of the tray and in said downward movement forcing said members apart and thereby freeing the ice.

7. The combination with an ice tray, of subdividing means comprising a pair of upright plate members extending longitudinally throughout the center of the tray, partitions projecting from one side face of each of said members, the other faces of said members lying in close opposing relation to each other, and a wedge member insertable between said opposing faces of said members in a downward direction toward the bottom of the tray and in said downward movement forcing said members apart and thereby freeing the ice.

8. The combination with an ice tray, of subdividing means comprising a pair of upright plate members lying close together and extending the length of the tray at the center thereof, each of said members having partitions projecting therefrom to the side walls of the tray, and a wedge member insertable between said members intermediate their lengths downward in a direction toward the bottom of the tray for forcing in said downward movement the central portions of said members apart and causing the members to each assume a bowed shape.

9. The combination with an ice tray having flexible side walls, of a pair of partitions to lie upright in the tray in close relation to each other, and a flexible member engageable with said opposite side walls while assuming a downwardly concave formation above the tray, said member carrying a wedge element disposed to enter between said partitions, whereby pressure upon the member toward the tray will force the side walls thereof apart and will force the wedge between said partitions to separate them and break loose the ice.

10. The combination with an ice tray having flexible opposite side walls, of a pair of upright partitions within the tray in close relation to each other and lying parallel with said side walls. and a flexible strip-like member engageable at its ends with said opposite side walls while assuming a downwardly concave formation above the tray, said member carrying a wedge element disposed to enter between said partitions, whereby pressure upon the member toward the tray will force said opposite walls apart to enlarge 1 the tray, and will also force the wedge between said partitions to separate them'and break loose the ice.,

11. The combination with an ice tray having flexible opposite side walls, of a pair of upright partitions in the tray in close relation to each other, and a flexible member engageable at its ends with said opposite side wallsand carrying a wedge element projecting toward the space between the partitions, said member being of a length to assume a bent shape above the tray and space the wedge element above said partitions, whereby initial pressure upon the member toward the tray will spread the opposite walls of the tray and continued pressure upon the member will force said wedge element between the partitions and urge them apart, to free the ice.

12. The combination with an ice tray having flexible opposite side walls, of a pair of upright partitions within the tray in close relation to each other and extending the length of the tray midway between said opposite side walls, and a strip-like member of resilient metal engageable at its ends with said opposite walls with said member while assuming a concaved formation toward the tray, said member carrying at the center thereof a wedge element, whereby downward pressure upon the member will spread said opposite side walls of the tray apart and cause said wedge element to enter between said partitions to urge them apart and free the ice.

13. The combination with an ice tray having flexible opposite side walls, of a pair of upright longitudinal partitions in the tray in close relation to each other and extending the length of the tray midway between said opposite side walls, said longitudinal partitions having lateral partitions extending to said opposite walls of the tray, and a strip-like member of resilient metal engageable at its ends with said opposite walls and carrying at the center thereof a wedge element pointing toward the space between the 1011- I gitudinal partitions, said member being of a length to assume a concave formation toward the tray and space the wedge element above said longitudinal partitions, whereby pressure upon said member toward the tray will initially force said walls of the tray apart toenlarge the tray, and continued pressure will force the wedge between the longitudinal partitions to urge them apart.

14. Means for subdividing the contents of an ice tray comprising a longitudinal partition to lie upright in a tray, and transverse partitions projecting therefrom, said transverse partitions being perpendicular to the longitudinal partition but being alternately inclined upwardly and downwardly relative to each other so as to form alternately upwardly and downwardly flaring ice block compartments within a tray.

15. Means according to claim 14 in which said upwardly and downwardly flaring transverse partitions are disposed on one side only of said longitudinal partition.

16. An ice tray having flexible side walls, a member extending across the tray, engaging at its end portions with said side walls at the upper portions thereof, and under downward pressure exerted thereon, spreading said walls apart to loosen the ice contained in the tray, substantially as described.

17. An ice tray according to claim 16 in which theside walls of the tray incline upwardly and outwardly.

18. An ice tray according to claim 16 in which said member has means disposed thereon about midway of the width of the tray -for exerting pressure upon the ice to force the same outwardly towards said sides from a substantially central vertical plane intersecting the tray,'substantially as described.

19. An ice tray having partitions extending lengthwise thereof and'adjacent each other substantially midway of the width of the tray, said tray having upwardly and outwardly inclined flexible sides, a member extending across the top of the tray, engaging the sides and under downward pressure forcing said sides away from. the ice, said member having means to move downwardly between said partitions to force them apart towards the sidesj of the tray, and partitions carried by the lengthwise extending portions and extending transversely of the tray to divide the ice into sections, substantially as described. r v

20. An ice tray according to claim 19 in which said transverse portions have outwardly and upwardly inclined outer edges conforming substamtially to the inclined sides of the tray and unattached thereto, substantially as described.

21. A grid for subdividing the contents of an ice tray comprising means to extend longitudinally of the tray substantially centrally thereof, said means having fins projecting transversely in opposite directions from said central holdingmeans, the fins of each set being alternately reversely inclined to form upwardly flaring pockets alternating with downwardly flaring pockets for the ice cubes, a tray, and means whereby the grid is subjected to stress tending to move it relative to the tray.

22. An ice tray organization according to claim 21 in which the stress tending to move the grid relative to the tray is applied in a direction transverse to the length of the tray and in the general direction in which the fins point, substantially as -described.

23. In combination with a member having resilient metallic side and bottom walls forming a tray for containing a substance to be frozen and adapted to be placed in or on a cooling element of a refrigerating system, said resilient tray walls normally retaining a predetermined position while a substance is beingfrozen therein, an expansible device including legs adapted to engage and cause flexing of opposed resilient tray.

side walls, and said device being expansible by force applied, thereto in a downward direction for moving the tray side walls outwardly relative to one another and for moving the resilient bottom wall of the tray out of said predetermined retained position thereof away from the substance frozen in the tray to break an ice bond between the frozen substance and said resilient tray walls.

24. In combination with a member having a bottom wall and upstanding resilient metallic side walls forming a tray for containing a subpstance to be frozen and adapted to be placed in or on a cooling element of a refrigerating system, said resilient tray walls normally retaining a predetermined position while a substance is being frozen therein, a single expansible means having a portion thereof adapted to engage opposed side walls of said tray for breaking an ice bond between the frozen substance and said tray walls, said means being constructed and arranged to apply force simultaneously to the opposed tray side walls to thereby move said tray side walls relative to one another out of said predetermined retained position thereof, and

said single expansible means being actuated by force applied thereto in a downward direction.

25. In combination with a member having a bottom wall and upstanding resilient metallic end and side walls forming an elongated tray for containing .a substance to be frozen and adapted to be placed in or on a cooling element of a refrigerating system, said resilient tray walls JAMES H. ZMINER. 

